A Tale of Covert Magical Reconnaissance
by jokerhorse
Summary: The TSAB has finally discovered that Earth has a secret magical society. But they know next to nothing about it. That's all about to change when they send two 'highly trained' agents to Hogwarts to gather all the information they can regarding this magical society.
1. Chapter 1

A/N – I don't own Harry Potter or Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.

Chapter 1

Earth – Harlaown Temporary Residence

July 13th, 1991

10:02 AM

Lindy Harlaown sat comfortably on the living room couch surrounded by vid screens and data pads containing all the information regarding her crew's most recent mission. They had recently returned from a weeklong investigation concerning possible gadget activity on an Un-Administered planet far from Earth, and so the crew of the Arthra was taking some well-deserved shore leave. Chrono and Amy were out on a date around Uminari City, and Fate had left to see Nanoha as soon as they had returned to Earth.

And so only Lindy remained in the house to finish off the paperwork. Not that she minded much. Chrono and Amy, who had only recently started dating, deserved some couple time where they weren't work. And Fate had been so worried that Nanoha would start to over work herself again now that she has been cleared for duty after the gadget incident a year ago that had almost claimed her life. Ever since that incident, Fate practically hovered around Nanoha to make sure everything was all right.

Lindy frowned, thinking back to that day. That had been a dark day for the TSAB; for one of their aces to go down like that. Once Fate had heard that Nanoha had been critically injured during her mission with Vita, she had been beside herself with anxiety and had been unable to teleport herself to the hospital. Chrono had to come get her, and then she had refused to leave the hospital when the doctors were unsure if Nanoha would survive the night. Once Nanoha had been cleared of any immediate danger and transferred to the long-term care unit, Fate would visit every day until she woke up a month later. That had been a very hard time for Lindy; as Nanoha lay in a coma, Fate became a shadow of herself. Refusing to go on missions and constantly training but still failing the Enforcers Exam twice and hardly talking to anyone.

However once Nanoha woke, everything started to look up. There were bumps along the way, such as when Nanoha received the news about the possibility of never walking again. But Nanoha worked through it, and with the help of Fate and her family, she managed to walk again. And then she managed to fly again. It was the closest thing to a miracle that Lindy had seen in a long time. Now just over a year later, Nanoha had just been cleared for active duty again; her magic strong and lots of eyes watching her to make sure she didn't over work herself again.

Lindy sighed, returning her thoughts to the mission reports. It was boring work that often resulted in her mind wandering, making the paperwork take that much longer. Working diligently for the next ten minutes, Lindy was nearing the end of the mission report when the vid screens flashed, indicating an incoming call. Looking up, Lindy saw that it was from a number local to Earth. Knowing that there was only one person whose number would be local to Earth, but have no identification name, she answered.

"Admiral Graham, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'm not an Admiral anymore, remember?" Gil Graham responded lightly, with a small smile.

Lindy took a moment to observe Graham, recalling that she hadn't seen him since the resolution of the Book of Darkness incident. He looked much the same as he had three years ago. His hair was still grey; a short beard grew along his jaw up to his hairline and a nearly trimmed moustache to complete the look. His face however, looked smoother from the lack of stress of the past three years.

"It's a habit." Lindy responded with small laugh. "But it looks like retirement on Earth has been treating you well."

"Yes it has. I moved back to London with Aria and Lotte, and we've been enjoying the peace and quite. Although it seems like they get bored sometimes, if the mischief they get up to is anything to go by!"

"That's good to hear! Now enough small talk, what was the reason that you called?" Lindy asked.

"Ahh yes. Do you remember the small task force that the TSAB set up after the Jewel Seed incident to monitor Earth to try to determine its magical potential?"

"Mhmm." Lindy mussed. "Yes, I remember being briefed on their presence. My crew and I were assured that they wouldn't interfere with us while we were station here. Although, I recall that even after two years they haven't found anything substantial."

"Yes. The small task force that was sent couldn't find anything more than odd, unrelated occurrences around the world and were recently pulled back to resume their usual duties." Graham paused here, looking at Lindy, who was listening with rapt attention. By her silence, Graham figured she had figured out that he hadn't called to discuss the TSAB magical reconnaissance task force. With a deep breath, he stated. "I believe I might have found a magical community on Earth."

"What?" Lindy asked, surprised. "A magical community?"

"Yes. Aria and Lotte, who have taken to be in their cat form more often due to the non-magical nature of Earth, have been playing with one of my neighbour's daughter and overheard a very interesting conversation."

"See, I babysat Hermione, the daughter, last year during the summer while her parents were working and before she could stay home alone. And sometimes, when she got very emotional, strange things would happen. Clothes would suddenly become clean or spills would be cleaned up suspiciously fast for example. At the time, I thought nothing of it. It was easy to convince myself that I was just missing Mid-Childa and magic." Graham explained. "But then today, Aria and Lotte overheard a woman say that Hermione was a witch. A magical child." And so he started to recount what Aria and Lotte had overheard in the Granger household.

_Aria and Lotte were wrestling in their cat form in the Granger's back yard while Hermione lay on the grass under an umbrella reading The Hobbit. She would occasionally glance up and smile at the cats, amused by their apparently boundless energy for rolling around on top of each other. Her parents had gotten home about mid-afternoon, and while she liked Mr. Graham from across the street, she was glad that her parents let her stay home alone during the summer. And she even got to look after Mr. Graham's cats, Aria and Lotte, when he was busy. Or when he was tired of their energy. They were strange cats; almost always coming when she called them, playing with each other when she was reading but wanting to play with her when she was feeling lonely. It was odd; it was almost like they understood her when she talked to them. It was almost like having human friends._

_Looking towards her house, Hermione saw that her mother had started to set the table. Knowing that dinner was soon, she placed her bookmark in her book and stood up. A quick, "Aria! Lotte!" and the two cats were immediately following her inside._

_After washing her hands, Hermione sat at the table just as dinner was finished. Her parents sat down, and the twins took up their usual spot on the back of the couch adjacent to the kitchen area. Soon, the kitchen was filled with small talk. Daniel and Maria Granger telling their daughter about their day at work while Hermione told them how far she'd gotten in The Hobbit that day. However a knock on the door interrupted them near the end of the meal._

"_Hermione, dear, can you please answer the door?" Her mother asked politely._

_With a quick nod, Hermione pushed herself away from the table and walked to the door. Thinking it was Mr. Graham asking for his cats back, she was quite surprised when she saw a woman standing on the other side._

_The woman was tall, taller than her mother, with dark skin, and dark brown hair pulled into a bun on the back of her head. She wore a light blue blouse with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a knee-length black pencil skirt and black flats. Over her shoulder was a leather book bag that looked quite empty._

_The woman smiled kindly, and asked. "Are you Hermione Granger?"_

_Hermione just nodded shyly, while glancing back in the direction of the kitchen._

_Catching the look, the woman spoke up again. "Do you mind if I come in and speak with you and your parents?"_

_Hermione nodded once before replying. "Let me go ask my parents first." She turned, leaving the door open, and hurried back into the kitchen. Moments later, scrapping could be heard and Maria Granger was accompanying Hermione back to the stranger at the front door._

"_Maria Granger correct?" A quick nod. "My name is Aurora Sinistra. I'm a professor at a private boarding school hoping to talk to you about Hermione attending my school."_

"_Oh!" Mrs. Granger exclaimed. "I'm sorry, but we've already decided where Hermione will be attending school."_

"_I see. Well, I come representing a very special school that would offer a very… unique opportunity for Hermione. I have letter in my bag that will help explain the situation, but I would much prefer to show it to you inside the house. It can come as a bit shocking."_

_With a slight hesitation, Maria stepped aside and motioned for Sinistra to come while also calling for her husband to join them in the hallway. Daniel came immediately, noticing that his wife and daughter had been by the door for a bit, and was closely tailed by the twin cats._

_Seeing that the family was all together in the hallway, and the front door closed, Sinistra reached into her bag and pulled out a parchment envelope addressed to Hermione Granger. With shaking hands, Hermione took the letter and opened. After reading over the letter, she gasped and handed the letter to her mother. Her mother began frowning as she read the letter, and gave it to her husband before address Sinistra._

"_Is this some sort of elaborate joke? A school for magic? Magic doesn't exist!" Maria demanded._

"_I'm quite serious. I'm a witch, and so is your daughter. Haven't you ever noticed anything unusual happen around Hermione when she's upset or angry?" Sinistra responded calmly. After all, this was a common reaction from the few muggleborn letters she had delivered._

_This gave pause to Maria and Daniel, who was just about to start on his own rant, as they recalled the few moments when Hermione had lost her cool. Like when she had accidentally knocked over a tea set that had been based down through their family for generations. She had been so distraught about breaking it, that when Daniel had returned to the living room after fetching a broom and dustpan, the tea set had been repaired. The family, too confused over what had happened, simply believed that the tea set had never broken, but had just been knocked down. Eyes widening in realisation, they looked back at Sinistra._

_With a big smile, Sinistra carefully took out her wand and pointed it at Aria and carefully saying "Wingardium Leviosa!"_

_To the surprise of everyone, Aria started to levitate while moving her legs frantically to find the ground. Quickly, Sinistra set her back down and looked backed to the Grangers._

"_Shall we go to the living room where we can discuss the magical world and what to expect?"_

_Once they were all comfortably sitting in the living room Sinistra began her introduction to the wizarding world._

"_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is one of the three main wizarding schools in Europe. The other two are Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute. The current Headmaster is Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall is the Deputy Headmistress. Hogwarts is divided into four houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Students are sorted during their first year and will remain in that house until they graduate. Education at Hogwarts starts at 11 years old and lasts 7 years, with the Ordinary Wizard Level tests, commonly referred to as O.W.L.s takes place in year 5 and the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, N.E. , are taken at the end of year 7. Any questions so far?"_

_There was brief pause before Hermione timidly asked, "Can you tell me more about the houses?"_

"_Certainly. The house system is a way to separate students based on the values they value. Gryffindors values bravery, nerve and chivalry. Slytherins value ambition, cunning and resourcefulness. Hufflepuffs value hard work, patience, fair play and loyalty. And Ravenclaws value intelligence, knowledge and wit. First years are sorted at the welcoming feast, where you will have your first meal with your housemates. Your house will become your family during your stay at Hogwarts. Every year there is a competition between the houses. Points are awarded for good behaviour and participation in class, while point will be deducted for rule breaking. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will win the House Cup."_

"_How are students sorted?"_

"_You'll have to find that out for yourself at Hogwarts, Miss Granger." Sinistra responded with a mischievous smile._

"_What kinds of classes are taught at Hogwarts?" Maria asked, still looking like she was trying to process the fact that magic is real._

"_Good question! For the first 5 years, the core curriculum is Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Astronomy and History of Magic. During third year, students may also take up to two more electives. These electives include Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination and depending on the demand, Alchemy. First years will also have Flying lessons and 6__th__ years are able to take apparition lessons. After 5__th__ year, students will take subjects that correspond best with their chosen career path."_

"_Oh. I see." Maria said weakly, clearly not expecting to not understand most of the subjects._

"_Don't worry Mrs. Granger. Hogwarts is a fantastic school and will prepare your daughter for any magical career she desires." Sinistra said reassuringly. This often happened with muggle parents._

"_A magical career? What if Hermione wanted a career that's non-magical?" Daniel said suddenly. While he didn't understand most of the subjects, he knew that none of them contained Math, Science, English or any other subject Hermione will need to go to university._

"_Unfortunately, Mr. Granger, Hogwarts is a magical school that will only prepare Miss Granger for a career in the magical community. In the magical community, we are under a law known as the International Law of Secrecy, meaning that like you until very recently, no non-magical people know of our existence. That is why Hogwarts doesn't cover any muggle subjects; it would be redundant as no student will be able to say they were schooled at Hogwarts in a muggle environment."_

_Thinking the new information through, Maria and Daniel were silent. However Hermione was eager to hear more about magic and blurted out, "Can you tell me more about the magical world? And what does muggle mean?"_

_With a soft chuckle Sinistra replied, "Muggle means a non-magical person, like your parents. Don't worry, it's not offensive, just a fact. And where to start about the magical world?"_

"_Well, in London there's a Ministry of Magic that runs the every day life of the wizarding world. We have our own law enforcement, known as Aurors, as well as government researchers, known as Unspeakables. The laws that you'll have to be concerned about are the secrecy law and the underage magic law. The underage magic law consists of underage witches and wizards cannot use magic outside of school, and in the magical society, that age is 17. There are a couple all-magical communities, although the largest that I know of are Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. You'll have to go to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies if you decide to attend, but don't worry, you'll have help."_

"_When will we have to let Hogwarts know if Hermione will be attending?" Maria asked._

"_An owl should arrive tonight with your school list. Just send a letter back with your decision with the owl. Don't worry about deciding immediately, the owl will stay here until it receives a reply. And if Miss Granger does decide to attend Hogwarts, meet at Charing Cross Road in London on Sunday, August 11__th__ at noon, to get school supplies. I will be meeting with other muggleborn students at that time to help them get their school supplies. Oh! And your train ticket to Hogwarts, should you decide to attend, is in the same envelope as your acceptance letter."_

"_Thank you very much Ms. Sinistra, for your information and time." Hermione said politely as Sinistra stood to leave._

"_It was no problem, Miss Granger. And hopefully it will be Professor Sinistra come September 1__st__!"_

"And after that, Aurora Sinistra left the Granger residence and walked down the street." He finished.

"Walked down the street? How strange. Anyways, I'll talk to the monitoring team responsible for the area that Earth belongs to and get this mission started as soon as possible. When did they overhear this?"

"Yesterday afternoon. I thought it'd be best to report this immediately."

"Good thinking. Thank you Graham, I'll see if we can keep you in the loop for this mission."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N – I don't own Harry Potter or Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.**

Chapter 2

Mid-Childa – Main TSAB Office, Cranagan

0068 (July 17th, 1991 - Earth Calendar)

1400 Hours

Lindy Harlaown sat uncomfortably around the oval meeting table in the TSAB Main Office. As she had told Graham, she had relayed the information to the monitoring team of Area 51; the area that Un-Administered world 97 and 6 other worlds resided in. As per protocol, they had immediately reported it to Main Office and now she was sitting in a meeting room with Gil Graham and his familiars, Admiral Leti, Admiral Leone Phils, Admiral Midget Crowbel and Librarian Yuuno Scrya to discuss the TSAB's next step.

Stepping forward with his familiars, Graham began to recount what he had told Lindy about what the twins had overheard. Once he had finished, Yuuno stood up, holding is note pad that he had filled while Graham had been talking.

"Okay. That was a lot of very useful information. To summarize the most important parts its clear that we have an organized magical community on Earth, possibly world wide, but confirmed in Europe. It has it's own government, law enforcement, researchers and possibly more. It's been around long enough that it's an established system with it's own history. It is unknown if they are space faring, but that is unlikely as we have been monitoring Earth heavily for the past 3 years. In other words, we have a completely isolated group of magic users that even most of the local Earth inhabitants have no knowledge of."

After Yuuno finished, there was silence in the room. It was a very different experience to find a magical society on a known world. Usually, if a new magical society was discovered, it was when they discovered the world as well.

"This is certainly unexpected, and a bit concerning." Admiral Crowbel mused. "But what should we do about it? Direct interference on an Un-Administered world is not permitted."

"But we need to know more about this magical community on UA-97. Is it global? Is it only restricted to the one continent? How powerful are they? Are they more advanced than the other inhabitants of UA-97? These are the kind of questions that must be answered!" Admiral Phils stated.

"Yes. There are too many unknown factors right now to take any drastic actions. Should this society prove to be capable, we may have to make UA-97 an administered world. But their secrecy is disturbing. Why keep themselves isolated?" Crowbel responded.

Lindy, who had been silent since the meeting started, suddenly spoke out. "All this sounds like we need a reconnaissance mission."

"Yes. That was exactly what I was thinking Admiral Lindy." Responded Phils, who then looked to Crowbel for confirmation.

"Yes, that is what we need to do. I'm glad that we are all in agreement. But how to do it? We have no idea where this Ministry is, nor do we know any other entry points besides a general area." Crowbel replied, although the last part was said mostly to herself.

The room was quite again as the occupants thought of the information they had and how to apply it to an information reconnaissance mission.

"We could send a small unit to tail those 'muggleborns' when they meet up with Aurora Sinistra. That would give us knowledge of an entry point to the community and since it's most likely a shopping area, a good place to buy texts to provide more information." Lindy suggested.

Yuuno, Crowbel and Graham were nodding in agreement, but Phils still seemed to be deep in thought. Looking around the table, he took a deep breath before starting.

"I believe we need to go further than that. What Admiral Harlaown suggested is in fact the perfect starting point. But what if we can't re-enter this 'Diagon Alley' after that day? If it can only be accessed by one of these 'wizards'? We would lose our only entry point and would be reduced to passive observation again. We need to get a team integrated into the community in order to get any substantial information."

"But we would never fit into society. We don't have information on how to act, who's important, etc…" Questioned Lindy.

"I know! And neither do these muggleborn wizards. They go in with the same information we have and eventually learn of the magical community."

"But what does that have to do with us? They'll never believe that a random muggleborn finally gets to Diagon Alley, but had never attended Hogwarts or any of the other schools mentioned. Any muggleborn witch or wizard that reaches adulthood would simply be a non magical person who had odd things happen to them."

"Then we don't send an adult agent. Don't we currently have two Earth born mages who are 11? And one who has spent enough time on Earth to be considered from Earth?"

"Are you suggesting that we send Nanoha Takamachi, Hayate Yagami and Fate? They're just kids! Nanoha was just given permission to resume regular duties a few months ago!"

"The fact that they are kids are the reason why I'm suggesting them! They are at the perfect age to be considered students at Hogwarts! And don't try suggesting that they aren't cut out for this kind of thing. They're some of the strongest mages I've ever seen!"

"Being able to blow stuff up and fly around fighting is much different than a long term reconnaissance mission!"

"Even better! As far as we know, it's low risk and great experience for them. It would look great on their records. See reason Admiral Harlaown! We have a great opportunity here to get valuable information. We might not have another chance like this!"

"But -!"

"Enough Admiral Harlaown." Crowbel interrupted. "Admiral Phils has made a great point. Reconnaissance missions are generally low risk, and will provide a very different experience for the mages. So far their only experience is combat and scouting, it will be interesting for them to do something new. However, I do not believe Yagami will be suitable for this mission. She has just finished her probation period and her guardians would be a problem with a reconnaissance mission such as this. Private Takamachi and Harlaown will be the agents assigned to this mission."

"Yes Admiral." Lindy said reluctantly. As much as she didn't want Fate or Nanoha to go on this mission, Phils had some good points. "But how are we going to insert them? We can't just show up at the meeting point. From they way that Sinistra explained things, she was the one introducing the muggleborns to the magical world."

"Yes, that is a problem. We should scout out the area and see if we can find anything unusual around the meeting area." Phils said with a frown.

"Excellent. We have the beginning of a plan. Send a security team of mages with the scouting group. Label it as high priority, time is against us at the moment." Crowbel commanded.

* * *

Mid-Childa – Main TSAB Office, Cranagan

0068 (July 22th, 1991 - Earth Calendar)

0900 Hours

"What has the scouting team found?" Crowbel asked as the team, minus Yuuno and Graham, reconvened five days after the previous meeting.

"Not much." Admitted Phils. "Only a suspicious pub. To anyone on the team without magic it was just a rundown building of no particular note. Non-mages would also suddenly remember that they had an appointment and attempt to leave, and only stopped when they were further away from the building and questioned by the mages. It also had a particular affect for the mages. They reported that while it appeared as a rundown building at first, it would occasionally flicker."

"Flicker?" Asked Lindy.

"Yes. Like a bad quality video message. And the more the mages concentrated on it, the more it flickered. They eventually managed to guess that it was a pub called something along the lines of 'The Leak Cauld'. I'm assuming they have some sort of illusion and deflection magic that prevents non-magical people from noticing or approaching it."

"Interesting. I believe we could use that to our advantage." Lindy said, tapping her fingers on her chin.

"How so?"

"I can take Nanoha and Fate to Charing Cross Rd. before the scheduled time. Nanoha and Fate, pretending to have no idea about the existence of magic, notice that the building flickers. We go investigate. Us coming into the pub should draw a lot of attention. Three non-magical people entering a pub should be impossible to them, so we'd end up talking to someone who knows about the magical world. I believe they'd want to figure out how two 11-year-old girls were able to see the illusion. Maybe we'd even be able to tag along with the muggleborns. We'd contact the Headmaster of Hogwarts and ask to be enrolled in Hogwarts." Lindy explained.

"But why wouldn't you have been contacted like the other muggleborns?" Crowbel asked, noticing a rather large gap in the story.

"We could be vacationing in London, but are actually from Japan. We should keep to the truth as much as possible. It'll be easier for Nanoha and Fate to remember the cover story. We'll just have to hope that Hogwarts only recruits from Europe." Lindy responded, already starting to think up the exact cover story that will be used.

"Excellent!" Exclaimed Crowbel. "Let's work out more of the details before we call Takamachi and Harlaown here for briefing."

* * *

Mid-Childa – Main TSAB Office, Cranagan

0068 (August 1st , 1991 - Earth Calendar)

0900 Hours

Nine days later, Nanoha and Fate were patiently waiting to be briefed on their newest mission. Both had been between missions and had been enjoying the summer before they returned to school in the fall.

Entering the room, Lindy placed the mission folder on the table before looking at the two privates.

"Recently we have discovered that Earth has a secret magical society. We don't know how large it is or how powerful; only that it's organized and has been around for a while. We also have very little knowledge of where they are and how to access them." Lindy paused, looking over the two girls. They were predictably shocked, but remained quiet and focused on what they were being told. "We do know that they have a method of finding and contacting non-magical people of Earth that we will be exploiting. We will be infiltrating their society to gather intelligence so that we can better classify them and act accordingly. Any questions so far?"

"Why are we being told this? Shouldn't a trained infiltration squad be handling this?" Fate asked quietly.

"In most cases, yes, they would. However, the one entrance we found was when they introduce new, previously thought to be non-magical, students to the society before they attend a magic school they call Hogwarts. Our mission, which could possibly last 7 years, is to infiltrate that group. In this society, magical education apparently starts at 11 years of age. Your age."

"That is why you have been chosen for this mission." Lindy continued. "You are both familiar with Earth's culture, have a significant amount of experience to be able to escape any dangerous situations and are of the perfect age to perform this mission. Do either of you have any issues so far?"

Fate immediately shook her head, but Nanoha hesitated. What would her family think of a 7 year long mission? Noticing her unease, Lindy spoke up.

"This isn't a no contact mission Nanoha. You should be able to call your family every so often, and you'll be attending a school. Once we get more information about Hogwarts, we'll be able to tell when you'd be able to see your family. It is a school after all – they probably have Christmas and summer breaks when you'd be able to return home. If it'd make you feel better, I'll come down with you to explain the general mission details. If you decide to do the mission, I can explain it to your family while you pack."

Looking relieved, Nanoha nodded. She hated keeping secrets from her family. When she had first met Yuuno, it had saddened her greatly knowing that she was keeping secrets and lying. Now that she knew her family would be aware of what she was doing, it made her much more relaxed.

"Excellent!" Lindy exclaimed. "Now the specific mission details. As you now know, the first part will be strictly attempting to infiltrate the magical community while gathering as much information as possible. Hopefully we'll be able to get you two into Hogwarts, but even if we only access Diagon Alley the mission will still be considered a success."

Lindy paused to display the mission details on the holo-screen. "Our plan to access Diagon Alley is to enter a building known to us as 'The Leak Cauld'. We will be posing as tourists. The back-story is that you two did extremely well in school, and to celebrate, I brought my daughter and her best friend on vacation to London for a week. We wanted to make your back-story as close to the truth as possible and therefore you will use your real names and histories. Except, of course, the TSAB or anything related to it cannot be mentioned."

"Are we going to have to come up with how Fate and I met?" Nanoha questioned.

"We'll just say that when Fate moved to Uminari, you two became instant friends when you offered to show her around. It's easy to remember, and not an uncommon occurance." Lindy paused, waiting to see if Fate or Nanoha had any more remarks. When neither spoke, she continued. "Back to the mission. We will be wandering around Charing Cross Rd on August 12 at around 1145 hours' local time to try to enter the suspicious building. We have reports that the building flickers when being focused on by a mage, as it's likely that there's an illusion spell over it, and so it shouldn't be hard to locate."

"The 'muggleborn' witches and wizard will be arriving shortly after us, and we are hoping to join them in their tour of Diagon Alley. A Hogwarts professor is giving the tour, so hopefully we'll be able to make contact with the school there. Our story for why we were able to enter the building, since we are assuming that the illusion spell is to prevent non-magical from entering, is that the two of you noticed the building flickering and insisted that we check it out, despite my protests that it's just an old, run down building."

"Since we have very little information about the magical community, we'll have to rely a lot on luck and our ability to react to unexpected situations. Staying calm during the mission will be essential, as well as keeping to your cover story. The magical community must not know it is being observed by the TSAB. We want to know all we can before any other actions, such as contacting the Ministry of Magic, will be taken. Also please note that this is a peaceful mission, so avoid aggressive confrontations when possible and only activate your devices in emergencies. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" Nanoha and Fate replied back.

"Good. Now, we'll be returning you both to Earth to pack in a few hours. Fate, you'll go straight home then meet me at Nanoha's place once you're finished. Nanoha, I'll come with you to explain the mission to your family while you pack. Once we have everything, we'll be transported to the Arthra. For the next 10 days you will be preparing for the mission. A reconnaissance instructor will be joining us and giving you two a crash course in reconnaissance missions."

**A/N – So the second chapter! I've played around a bit with the Nanoha timeline. Fate and Nanoha meet when they're 8 instead of 9. Why? Because I wanted Nanoha's major injury to happen before Hogwarts. But in canon, it happens when she's about 11, which is not enough recover time between the injury and the start of Hogwarts, so now it happened about a year ago. Also, things happen like a decade earlier than in Nanoha just to coincide with the Hogwarts timeline.**

**Also, I welcome constructive criticism with open arms! Does something not make sense? Are my sentences weird? Does something sound really forced (Like the first section.. eerg)? Did I get something wrong? Missing words or bad grammer? Let me know and I'll fix it. And suggestions to improve my writing is also encouraged! And hopefully I'll have the next chapter out in a week or two, but I'm quite busy with life, and unfortunately a lot of things take priority before this story….**


	3. Chapter 3

A Tale of Covert Magical Reconnaissance Chapter 3

A/N – Geez… It's been like 2 years. Sorry everyone! Well, I'm not super happy with this chapter – I feel like it's pretty clunky in some areas, but I've reviewed and rewrote it multiple times so I think it's the best its going to be for a while. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 3

Earth – Charing Cross Road, London

August 11, 1991

11:40 AM

Aurora Sinistra sat on the patio of a small muggle café, sipping at her coffee as her eyes scanned the surrounding area for the three muggleborn students, and their families, she would be introducing to the magical world today. The astronomy professor had been assigned to help integrate the new muggleborn students for a few years now and was well practiced in spotting the families she would be escorting today.

Aurora sipped her coffee again as she contemplated her position as "Official Muggleborn Integrator". The position was often rotated between professors who posses the select qualities of: professionalism, current and up-to-date knowledge of the muggle world, patience and the ability to blend in with muggles. The position of Integrator was not a necessarily a hard job, but it was an important one and Aurora took the position very seriously. Even if it did slightly interfere with her summer vacation. As a half-blood herself, she had predominately grown up in the magical world. However, her muggle mother was adamant that her daughter knew how to navigate the muggle world with ease. Even now as the Astronomy Professor at Hogwarts, she kept in touch with the muggle world through her mother and even rather enjoyed escaping to the muggle world every now and again.

Finishing the last of her coffee, Aurora finally spotted the first of the muggleborns to arrive. The Grangers were the first to arrive, Hermione holding her mother's hand as they looked around the street. After throwing her cup in the garbage, Aurora headed towards the family.

"Good morning! I'm glad you've decided to attend Hogwarts after all." Aurora said as she approached them.

"Yes. It's not often that our daughter gets invited to study at a school of magic. We wouldn't deny Hermione this opportunity, since she very clearly wants to attend." Mr. Granger responded with a small smile, patting Hermione on the head. Hermione smiled back up at him and nervously smoothed the front of her summer dress.

"Excellent! We are just waiting for two other muggleborn students and their families, and then we'll begin our day." Aurora explained. "They shouldn't be too long, as it is now 11:50."

Fifteen minutes later, Aurora found herself sitting at one of the large tables in the Leaky with the three muggleborn students, Hermione Granger, Dean Thomas, and Justin Finch-Fletchley, and their families. Dean Thomas, a tall boy with short dark hair and dark skin, had come shortly after the Grangers with his mother. Like the other muggleborns, Dean was dressed in muggle clothing consisting of dark jean shorts and a West Ham football jersey. His mother, Lina Thomas, was similarly dressed in blue jeans and a white tank top under a green cardigan.

Justin Finch-Fletchley and his parents, John and Karen Finch-Fletchley, were the last to arrive. Unlike the Thomas', they were dressed much more formally. Justin and Mr. Finch-Fletchley were both wearing black slacks and polo shirts; white and blue stripped for Justin and solid light green for Mr. Finch-Fletchley. Mrs. Finch-Fletchley was wearing a pale blue sun dress, which as accented by a large, silver necklace and matching earrings.

Like the other years Aurora had done the orientation, the muggles and muggleborns stood out like sore thumbs among the wizard robes that the rest of the patrons of the Leaky Cauldron wore. While it wasn't uncommon to see muggle attire in the Leaky Cauldron, especially near the start of the school year, the group still drew a fair amount of attention to their table.

"Now that we are here, I would like to say thank you for coming here today and to welcome you to Diagon Alley and Hogwarts!" Aurora began. "Before we begin making our way through Diagon Alley, I'd like to discuss the shopping itinerary first and what to expect in Diagon Alley."

Seeing her charges nod, Aurora continued, "First, we will go to Gringrotts Wizarding Bank. Most shops in Diagon Alley do not accept muggle currency, and as such, you will have to exchange your pounds for wizard money. We use coins as our currency and they come in three different values: Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons. There are 29 Knuts to a Sickle and 17 Sickles to a Galleon. I believe the current exchange rate is £4.93 for a Galleon [1]. Any currency exchanged will be returned to circulation in the muggle world by the employees. Be warned, Gringrotts is owned and operated by goblins, so do not be alarmed when you see them. Goblins are a small, but intelligent hominid race and can be rather unpleasant to interact with. Just be polite to them and they should be polite to you. Any questions?"

Aurora paused them, searching the table for any confusion. Unsurprisingly, all she got were wide-eyed stares. Just as she was about to continue, she noticed that Mrs. Finch-Fletchley seemed to be frowning disapprovingly at something behind her. Aurora around to the entrance to see a tall woman with mint green hair accompanied by two young girls; one with striking red eyes and long blond hair tied into pig-tails, and one with auburn hair, also tied into pig-tails, with bright blue eyes. They were all looking around the pub in wonder.

Before Aurora could process anything further, Mrs. Finch-Fletchley spoke up. "Is outlandish hair, like that woman over there, a common thing in the wizarding world?"

Still slightly surprised by the presence of the newcomers, Aurora absentmindedly respond, "Sometimes. There are common colour changing charms that are easy to cast. Most of the time if someone has unusually coloured hair, it's because someone has pranked them."

There was a brief moment of silence at the table before Aurora quickly excused herself from the able and made her way over to the newcomers. She glanced towards the bar and noted that Tom seemed preoccupied with a few customers. Concentrating on the small group in front of her, Aurora smiled and addressed them.

"Hello. You look a tad lost. Can I help you?"

* * *

Arthra – Geosynchronous orbit above Uminari City, Japan

August 11, 1991

11:45 AM

Private First Class Nanoha Takamachi and Junior Enforcer Fate Testarossa Harlaown stood before Admiral Lindy Harlaown and Captain Chrono Harlaown in the Arthra's teleportation bay. They were moments away from starting their first reconnaissance mission and were performing their final check before teleporting to Earth.

"Nanoha, Fate. Do you have everything ready?" Lindy asked as she observed her young subordinates. They seemed prepared, as they were already wearing their civilian clothing and showed no obvious signs of nervousness. If anything, they seemed excited.

"Yes ma'am!" Nanoha responded promptly. "Everything is packed and we've spent the last 10 days learning all we could about spy missions!"

Nanoha was, of course, talking about their crash course in reconnaissance missions. Due to the time constraint of the mission, the regular two-year introduction to reconnaissance training had been reduced to most important aspects related to the mission. They had been taught how to redirect suspicion, control conversations to gather information, observe their surroundings and most importantly, how to blend in with the crowd. When they weren't learning reconnaissance skills, Nanoha and Fate were researching the current events on Earth, specific to the United Kingdom, and practicing their English. By the end of the intense 10 days of training, both girls possessed the minimum skills to avoid detection and the tools to continuously improve during their deployment and were up-to-date with the current happenings around the world. Even more impressively, Nanoha managed to improve her English by a significant amount, allowing her to hold basic conversations and understand the gist of what said to her.

"Excellent, then we'll begin the mission then. Remember, we'll be transported about two blocks away from the meetup area. Hopefully we'll be able follow them into this 'Leak Cauld'." With that, the trio of mages stepped into the transporter and vanish from the Arthra's teleportation bay.

Earth – Alley near St Martin's Court, London

August 11, 1991

11:45 AM

Lindy, Fate and Nanoha reappeared in a deserted alley near St Martin's Ct moments after they disappeared from the Arthra. They briefly looked around the alley to make sure no one saw them before exiting and making their way towards Charing Cross Road and the 'Leak Cauld'.

Walking North on Charing Cross Rd, it only took the group a few minutes to reach the muggleborn meeting area. They immediately spotted a large group gathered near a small café. Based on the similarity of three of the group members to the description of the Grangers that Lindy had received from Gil, she assumed that they must be the group that they are looking for.

Nudging Fate beside her, Lindy nodded in the direction of the Grangers and quietly said, "I believe that's the group that we are looking for."

Nanoha nodded silently while Fate murmured, "They seem like they're still waiting for people."

"Mhm." Lindy agreed while scanning the area around them. "Let's go into the café and wait for them to leave for their destination. We're assuming that they'll head to the strange pub, but we have to be sure."

Lindy, Nanoha and Fate didn't have to wait long for more muggleborns and their families to arrive. A young boy and his mother arrived while Lindy was ordering a coffee for herself, and a wealthy-looking family arrived the moment they sat at table. Lindy quickly glanced at her charges before sighing and standing back up, leaving her untouched coffee on the table. The trio casually followed the large group, heading in the direction of the unusual pub. Lindy was glad that her assumption that the pub was the final destination was correct when they watched them disappear into the pub.

Cautiously approaching the pub, Lindy could see why the scouting team had deemed the pub suspicious. If she had just been passing by, should would never have given it a second glance. Now, as she looked at it longer, the front seemed to flicker from rundown too well-used. The previously broken windows were now slightly grungy looking, but intact, windows. The peeling paint was now a faded black, and the pub's name was slowly appeared.

Looking away from the magical building, she addressed Nanoha and Fate. "Alright. This is it. Let's begin."

Nodding, the Nanoha quickly began the act of slightly confused, but excited, child. She grabbed Lindy and Fate by the hand and began to pull them in the direction of the entrance. "Look at this building Fate-chan! It's flickering!"

* * *

Earth – The Leaky Cauldron

August 11, 1991

12:07 PM

"Hello. You look a tad lost. Can I help you?"

At her greeting, the mint haired women turned to face her and in accented English said, "Oh! Yes, please. What's the name of this building? My daughter and her friend insisted we come in when the front appeared to have a… what it called?"

There was a slight pause before the blond-haired girl quietly supplied, "a hologram."

"Yes! A hologram! They said it kept flickering between an abandoned building and an old restaurant."

"This is The Leaky Cauldron, a … niche pub." Aurora responded carefully. "Were you able to see the... uhh… hologram?"

"Unfortunately not, but I must have just missed the flickering. The girls were so insistent though, and I didn't see any harm in letting them explore a bit," the lady responded. "But I must ask, why try to discourage people from coming into a pub? Wouldn't you want more customers?"

"Well – err – it's not my pub actually. I just happened to see you looking lost and decided to help." Aurora evaded, thinking frantically. It seemed like the girls in front of her were muggleborn witches who had somehow stumbled into The Leaky Cauldron with no knowledge of the wizarding world. The girls looked about eleven, but if they were going to Hogwarts then she would've met them earlier to deliver their letters. She briefly entertained the thought that they would be going to a different school, but she quickly dismissed the thought. If they were going to a different school, they probably would have already known about magic. "My name is Aurora Sinistra, by the way."

"Lindy Harlaown. And this is my daughter Fate," the mint haired lady said as she placed a hand on the blond girl's head. The girl gave a shy smile as she leaned closer to her mother. Mrs. Harlaown put her other hand on the auburns girls head and continued, "and this is her best friend Nanoha Takamachi."

Nanoha gave Aurora an excited wave as she was introduced. Aurora thought she was much less shy than her friend, and was proven correct when Nanoha excitedly asked, "How does the hologram work? I didn't know they existed yet!"

Aurora's smile became strained after Nanoha asked her the question. While not unexpected, she had been hoping that she would be able to redirect them and get them to leave without telling them about magic. Aurora glanced back at Tom; he was still dealing with some customers and was of no help right now. Knowing she had to get back to her group soon, she had to make a decision quickly. Either keep lying and hope they leave soon or tell them about magic and invite them to join the orientation. On one hand, it wasn't her job to deal with a situation like this. On the other hand, she really didn't want to leave the newcomers to their own devices. While their presence in the pub wasn't a huge cause for concern, the problem would be what they would do once they left. Without knowing about the Statute of Secrecy, they could very well reveal the Leaky Cauldron to the muggle world. She wished Dumbledore was here.

"Well…" Aurora began, stretching out the word to give herself a few more seconds to think. Finally deciding on a course of action, she continued, "it's not a hologram actually. It's magic."

Aurora could see the disbelief on their face as she told them it was magic. She quickly continued before they could say anything, "and I know that sounds impossible, but it's true. Here, let me show you."

She quickly pulled out her wand and pointed it at a nearby chair and clearly saying, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The chair rose a few off the ground before hovering about a foot off the ground. Aurora placed the chair back on the ground before addressing the newcomers again. All three of them were staring wide eyed at her.

"Now Mrs. Harlaown, the reason that you couldn't see the 'hologram' is because you are not a witch. This pub has multiple spells in place to discourage non-magical people from entering. One of those spells makes the exterior look like an abandoned building to people without magic. It seems like your daughter and her friend are witches, which allows them to see through the spell."

By the end of explanation, Mrs. Harlaown was unsurprisingly still gaping at her. Nanoha and Fate's disbelief had turned into excitement as Aurora told them that they were witches. The adults always took the news that magic existed so much harder than the kids.

"Now I know this is very shocking and overwhelming, but you actually have very fortunate timing. I'm a professor at a magic school and I'm currently giving an orientation to the new students from non-magical families. Would you like to join us for the day and then afterwards we can figure out the next step?"

After a few moments of silence, Mrs. Harlaown was brought out of her stupor when Fate pulled on her hand. She looked down at her daughter, then at her daughter's friend before sighing. Both Fate and Nanoha were enthusiastically nodding yes.

"Yes, I guess so." Mrs. Harlaown approved. "Might as well learn as much as possible since magic apparently exists."

"Excellent!" Aurora exclaimed. "Just follow me to the table back there and you can join the others."

After Mrs. Harlaown, Fate and Nanoha joined the table, Aurora addressed the table, "I'm very sorry about the delay. We have some unexpected guests that will be joining us today. Please welcome Lindy Harlaown, her daughter Fate, and her daughter's best friend Nanoha Takamachi."

While muggleborns and their families seemed confused about the recent developments, they respectfully introduced themselves to the newcomers. Once everyone had quieted again, Aurora continued with the orientation.

"Now as I was saying earlier, witches and wizards have their own currency, so our first stop will be Gringrotts Wizarding Bank. You will be able to exchange your pounds into Galleons, and open a vault if you wish. Opening a vault is not mandatory and can be done at any time. Next, we will head to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to get your Hogwarts robes fitted. You'll have to pick them up at the end of the day as the alterations will take some time. Following that, we will go to Ollivanders to find a wand." With that, the children at the table cheered. Wands were always the most exciting for new witches and wizards.

"Yes, yes, I know. Wands are the most exciting part of the day. After we get your wands we'll head to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour for a quick break. After that we'll head to Scribbulus Writing Instruments, Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, Potage's Cauldron Shop, Eeylops Owl Emporium and Magical Menagerie. We'll end the day with getting out textbooks at Flourish and Blotts. Does that sound good?"

Everybody was nodding their head – Aurora can't remember a time when someone had a problem with the plan. Satisfied they had at least some idea of what was going to happen, she turned to the Harlaowns.

"Now since you've just found out about the magical world and aren't currently enrolled at any school, you don't have to buy anything." Aurora explained.

Mrs. Harlaown was nodding. "Alright, although I'm sure the girls wouldn't mind getting a wand. And I'd like to pick up some books about the wizarding world."

"Feel free to ask me for recommendations when we get to Flourish and Blotts."

With the meeting at the Leaky Cauldron over, Aurora led the group of muggleborns to the brick wall behind the pub. She tapped the bricks and then turned to watch the group's reaction to Diagon Alley.

* * *

That's it for this chapter! Let me know what you think of the switching perspectives. After this chapter, it will probably be mostly 3rd person limited from Nanoha and Fate POV with occasional input from someone else in the HP universe.

[1] Information found on the Harry Potter Wikia in the Wizarding Currency section.


End file.
